Master Practitioner Portfolio

Standard Four: Middle level English language arts teachers understand and use a variety of instructional strategies and assessments to develop students' understanding of oral language, written language and other media technology.  

In considering a variety of instructional strategies and assessments to develop overall student understanding, I utilize several practices that are research based. Those are: a form of a Balanced Literacy schedule, a system of Informal/Formal Assessment, and Multiple Attempts to Demonstrate Mastery.

Balanced Literacy is an effective strategy when working with at-risk children. This focus on the individual child’s needs not only provides the differentiation and scaffolding necessary for academic growth, it also allows a foundation, for the growth of efficacy, among less confident learners. The structure of a class-specific balanced literacy schedule allows for the overall literacy balance by providing students with allotted times for free and structured writing assignments, read-aloud, guided, and small group reading instruction, and the important component of summarizing with each balanced activity. This type of schedule allows the educator to assess every child with detailed notes regarding their progress, informal assessment activities, which measures understanding and identifies any gaps in understanding, as well as the summative piece which allows for the measurement of academic growth and a timeline for proficiency goals.

In addition to providing a balanced literacy approach and as a literacy educator, I am dedicated in assessing my students both formally and informally. Formative assessments provide feedback and data that is necessary in providing teachers a map of where students are and where they are going, academically. My students are assessed informally on a regular basis. Some examples of informal assessments utilized in my classroom are green light-yellow light, cue-cards, ticket-out-the-door, thumbs up-thumbs down and post-it desk responses. Informal activities such as these provide the data needed to adjust my curriculum according to each individual student’s needs.

In addition to using a variety of informal and formal formative assessment, I also allow the opportunity for multiple attempts to demonstrate mastery. As professional educators, we have an obligation to teach and prepare students based on state mandated standards. In addition, all students should be graded on the mastery of each standard required. Often times, at-risk students benefit from multiple attempts to demonstrate mastery. This practice, in combination with a balanced literacy approach continues to ensure that at-risk students begin to feel a sense of efficacy and belief necessary in ensuring their academic growth and success.